Ceiling construction



CEILING CONSTRUCTION Filed Sept. 20, 19:5?

-|NVENTORS 2 FRANCIS VAl/X WILSON JR. BY JOHN W. GERMOND.

ATTORNEY Patented Aug. 12, 1941 I QEILING CONSTRUCTION Francis Vaux Wilson, Jr., Morrisville, Pa., and

John W. .Germond, Trenton, N. J., assignors to Incorporated, Fernwood, N. J a corporation of New Jersey 8 Application September 20, 1939, Serial No. 295,732 4 Claims. (01. '2,o 4)

Homasote. Company,

Our invention relates to ceiling constructions and. particularly to constructions of a prefabricated or semi-fabricated type which may be con- Structed ina shop or elsewhere and transported to the siteas assembled whereby ceilingsmay be constructed and placed in position with 'a minimum of time, labor and expense.

Heretofore in the construction of ceilings it has been usual to place joists for an upper floor or rafters for a roof and to fabricate the ceiling by applying wall board, lath and plaster or other material for forming the ceiling to the joists or rafters. However such methods are slow and require nearly complete construction of the building including the joists before fabrication'of the ceiling may be commenced. Moreover, whenwall board or other, ceiling forming material is used in large sheets to eliminate joints between sections thereof it is extremely diflicult to hold the sheets up against the lower surfaces of the joists for securing them inplace. V

In accordance with the present invention these objections to methods and constructions of the prior art are overcome and ceilingstructuresprovided which may be fabricated in a shop while other portions of the building are being con structed and erected and may then be transported to the site for application to a building. When the ceiling is used in a lower floor the joists for the flooring ofan upper floor may be assembled with the ceiling structure and the whole assembly lowered into place so that the difficulties heretofore encountered in employing large sheets of wall board and the like are eliminated. v

Our invention is hereinafter described as designed for use in erecting buildings formed of sections constructed and assembled as set forth and claimed in our copending application Serial No. 286,840 filed July 27, 1939, but many features of the invention are adapted for use in erectin buildings of other or conventional types.

One of the objects of our invention is to provide a novel type of ceiling construction adapted to be fabricated prior to installation thereof.

Another object of our invention is to reduce the time, labor and cost of erecting buildings and applying ceilings to rooms therein.

A further object of our invention is to increase the efficiency and quality of wall board ceiling construction.

Another object of our invention is to provide a ceiling which includes joists for an upper floor and is adapted to be fabricated and installed as a unit in the erection of a building.

These and other objects and features "of our invention will appear from the following description thereof in which reference is made to the figures of the accompanying drawing, wherein,

Figs. 1 and 2 are each a vertical sectional view of an alternative type of construction embodying our invention; i Y 4 Fig. 3 is a view looking upward at a recessed type of ceiling embodying our invention. Fig. 4 is a view looking downward on the construction of Fig. 3, and 7 Each of Figs. 5; 6 and 7 is a vertical sectional view of the construction illustrated in Fig. 4 taken on the lines 5-5, 6-6 and 1! thereof, respectively; I

The construction illustrated and described herein may be applied to ceilings of any desired dimensions. In practice it is found that the weight of a ceiling section of extended area is too great to permit easy handling thereof and therefore the sections are generally limited to dimensions not exceeding 8 x14 feetgWhen the room to which the ceiling is applied is' of greater area than 8 x 14 feet and in special ceiling constructions it is sometimes necessary 'or desirable 'to use more than one section in a ceiling.' The joint between the ceiling forming material'of different sections is thus exposed and maybe treated in various. ways. As illustrated in Fig. l such a joint maybe formed by con- .tructing separate ceiling sections having mar ginal joists 1B and 12 which are placed side by side in contact with each other with straps 14 carried thereby and in abutment. The adjoining edges of the ceiling forming material 16 may extend into abutment or be slightly spaced but preferably are rounded at 18 to form a neat scam in the ceiling. As illustrated in Fig. 2 an artificial beam may be formed at the joint between the ceiling sections by applying a strip of material over the seam and securing moldings 82 to the edges of the strip of material to present a neat and attractive finish.

When the ceiling of a room is both longer and wider than available sheets of ceiling forming material and wherever a panelled type of ceiling is desired a construction of the type illustrated in Figs. 3 to '7 may be used.

The ceiling of Fig. 3 for example comprises a center panel 84 together with marginal panels 86 and 88 and may be formed in five sections as shown in Fig. 4. Preferably in forming a ceiling of this type the center panel is raised or lowered and to this end a construction such as that shown in Figs. 5 and 6 may be employed. As shown in Fig. a strap 90 by which the raised ceiling forming material 92 is supported is spaced from the joist 94 by a piece of ceiling forming material 96 applied to the joist beneath the strap 90. The raised panel cooperates with a sunken panel as shown in Fig. 6 wherein ceiling section 98 has the straps I00 thereof carried directly by joists so that the ceiling forming material'of the marginal sections will overlap the ceiling forming material of the center panel. A molding strip I02 is usually applied about the seam to present a neat and attractive appearance.

The joists of the section 84 and 88 of a ceiling having marginal sections as shown in Fig. 3 are secured at their ends to the headers I04 and I06. These headers are in turn secured to the longitudinally extending double joists I08 of the section 86 as shown more clearly in Fig. 7. In this way the center section is adequately supported at its ends.

In constructing ceiling sections embodying our invention a bed or table such as the jig table of application Serial No. 304,206 filed January 17, 1940, may be used. The joists, when employed are arranged on the table in spaced relation as indicated by a plan such as that of Fig. 4 and the supporting straps are nailed in place. Thereafter the section is inverted and two or more tying straps are secured to the opposite edges of the joists so as to prevent bending or distortion of the sections during transportationand installation thereof. After the sections have been located in place the tying straps are removed and rough flooring applied over the joists so that a strong, rigid ceiling and floor is produced with- The formation and construction of inclined ceilings for stairways and other special applications of the invention frequently require various changes and modifications in the form, arrangement and manner of assembly of ceiling sections embodying our inventions. However, such transversely thereof and ceiling forming material changes and modifications may be made. without secured to said strips, said units being arranged so that one unit is surrounded by other units, means between the joists and ceiling forming material of the central section serving to space said material from the joists thereof a distance exceeding the thickness of the strips of the surrounding sections whereby the ceiling forming material of adjacent sections are located in different but parallel planes and molding covering the joint between said sections.

2. A ceiling construction comprising a plurality of independent prefabricated units each embodying a plurality of parallel joists, said units being assembled with the joists of one of the unit extending at right angles to the joists of another of the units and a header to which the ends of the joists of said one unit are secured extending parallel to and located adjacent to a joist of said other unit.

3. A ceiling construction comprising a plurality of independent prefabricated units each embodying a plurality of parallel joists, said units being arranged so that one unit is surrounded by other units, the ends of the joists of the central unit beingconnected to headers extending parallel to the joists of other units. 4. A ceiling construction comprising a plurality of independentprefabricated units each embodying a plurality of parallel joists and a sheet of ceiling forming material, said units being arranged so that one unit is surrounded by other units, the ends of the joists of the central unit being connected to headers extending parallel to the joists of other units and the ceiling forming sheet embodied in central unit being vertically displaced with respect to the ceiling forming material embodied in the surrounding units.

FRANCIS VAUX WILSON, JR. JOHN W. GERMOND. 

